Tattoo
by governmentcontractor
Summary: Karai character study. One-shot. 2k12 cartoon.


Title: Tattoo

Summary: Karai character study. Karai/Leo mentioned. One-shot. 2k12 cartoon based.

Something had to give. That was what she was thinking as she sat in front of the rooftop sign advertising some brand of soft drink. She didn't care which brand it was. Everything here was different than in Japan; the city, the time zone, the food, the weather… her father.

Karai turned her mind away from that direction. Thinking of her father while thinking of him wouldn't work. The two couldn't live quietly in her mind together. Either in reality or in her thoughts they still battled. She shifted back to the subject that had driven her to this rooftop in the early hours of the morning. She had sent the group of Foot who were her escort away. She wanted solitude. Perhaps while alone she could solve her problem; it certainly wasn't getting any better in the company of others.

The lights of the sign changed from blue to red, the color reflecting in the dull metal she wore both as protection and a nod to her father's predilection for armor. The shifting colors reflected her thoughts, bouncing back and forth. _Blue_. He saw something in her that was not there. _Red_. Or it was there, and she just didn't want to accept it. _Blue_.

It was his genuine goodness that struck her the hardest. And his absurd determination to save her. But saving her also meant she was something other than what she knew she was. If she was like her father, than there wasn't a different path to take. And yet he was so certain ...

_Red_.

There was nothing to be saved from. She was content as she was. He was foolish and deluded to think there as anything in her to salvage.

_Blue_.

She grimaced, and curled her hands around the ledge that she sat on. She had seen it the very first time she had fought him - that instant when she could have ended it and hadn't. He had courage and honor just as she did, and yet ... And yet he would not cross the line. She had tempted him, goaded him, and still he remained resolute in his irritating wholesomeness.

_Red_.

She closed her eyes to the colors, the city skyline, and the cloud cover that hid the sliver of moon. Somewhere between their first battle and his last betrayal he had crawled under her skin. Like a sliver of glass he was in there, and she had taken this night to draw it out; to eliminate the residue of whatever kept her from finishing him. She could not afford to carry this stain of weakness.

Karai opened her eyes and breathed deeply of the night air. She drew it deep into her lungs, hoping to flush out whatever was in her system.

What did she see in him?

A shared skill, loyalty to their masters ... Bravery and caring and he would face anything, no matter how insurmountable. To fight her father, the aliens, and anything else that came along with only two katana and his brothers.

Her thoughts were dangerously close to admiration.

What did he see in her?

This was even more treacherous territory, and Karai closed her eyes tightly to both lights and truth. Her fingers bit hard into the wood of the ledge.

He saw good in her. At this her lip peeled back in a sneer. It wasn't there. She would know if it was.

And there was more, wasn't there? She saw other things in his blue eyes when he looked at her. Things she was not prepared to recognize.

A sharp pain brought her eyes open. She raised her right hand and looked at the drop of blood welling from the end of her ring finger. A small piece of wood from the ledge was in there. She studied the wound as the light from the sign changed colors.

_Red_.

In some Japanese gangs the members were required to get tattoos to show their loyalty and affiliation. Her father, the Shredder, did not follow this practice. Instead their allegiance was shown through the colors and symbols they wore on their clothing. Shredder's mark was still on her. It was in the way she fought, the way she behaved …

Karai stood up, and looked out over the city. The drop of blood on her finger fell to the wooden ledge, unnoticed. There was a new mark on her; something that kept her from killing Leonardo when he crossed her path. Like the splinter in her finger it should be removed. Only she didn't know how.

After all, some marks were permanent.

_Blue_.


End file.
